1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic units such as hard disk drives are often susceptible to impact, and it easily causes problems. There thus needs to reduce the impact for the electronic units especially in electronic devices equipped with such electronic units.
The electronic devices are exemplified by a music player that records and/or reproduces music information to/from the hard disk drive, an imaging device that records and/or reproduces image information to/from the hard disk drive, or others.
For the aim of impact reduction, a first previous technology proposes that a hard disk drive between two types of liquid is let float, and kept hold of the hard disk drive thereby. That is, the hard disk drive is disposed in a chamber provided inside of a cabinet of an electronic device, and a space is formed between the outer surface of a case of the hard disk drive and the inner surface of the chamber. The space is then filled with two types of liquid, each having a different specific gravity and thus being immiscible. For more details, refer to JP-A-8-235846.
With the first previous technology, the impact applied to the electronic device is spread between the two types of liquid so that the impact is reduced before being transmitted to the hard disk drive.
For the aim of impact reduction, there is also a second previous technology, proposing that a hard disk drive is housed in a chamber provided inside of a cabinet of an electronic device, a gel-like viscous fluid is filled to a space between the outer surface of a case of the hard disk drive and the inner surface of the chamber, and the case is kept hold using an elastic member provided to the inner surface of the chamber. For more details, refer to JP-A-2001-35062.
With the second previous technology, the impact applied to the electronic device is absorbed by the viscous fluid, and the space portion formed between the outer surface of the case and the inner surface of the chamber serves as an orifice so that the viscous fluid is made to serve as a damper when moves.
With the first previous technology, however, there needs to make settings of specific gravity for two types of liquid and for the hard disk drive in such a manner that the hard disk drive floats between the two types of liquid each having a different specific gravity. This considerably restricts the design flexibility not only by a difficulty in selecting such two types of liquid but also by a burden of adjusting the specific gravity of the hard disk drive. There is thus a problem of the technology not being practical enough. Moreover, the impact absorption by the liquid seems not enough.
As to the second previous technology, although it is more practical than the first previous technology, the impact absorption by the viscous fluid seems not enough either as that by the liquid. The second previous technology indeed gives a description of making the viscous fluid serve as a damper when the fluid moves, however, there is no description about how to configure the orifice to derive the sufficient impact absorption.
It is thus desirable to provide an electronic device that advantageously serves well for impact reduction with effect.